In my professional judgment, the Tourism NZ business case for Michelin falls well short of the standard. It’s not a clear-eyed assessment of options with a range of outcomes, they’ve just written a self-licking ice cream cone #nzpol newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/17/s...

Whatever else happens with bird flu, at least we can look forward to the supermarkets hiking up egg prices and profiteering on the back of “shortages” #nzpol

We are a deeply callous society

It’s a shame the US never understood Monty Python’s humour, because the dead parrot sketch should be on continuous rotation on all American media channels by now www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The lyrics are great, but it’s always the lute solo that does it for me

Given the excessive dividends Nicola Willis has been banking from the gentailers, our high power prices should be regarded as taxation by other means #nzpol

I saw this and had to share.

In politics, we’re torn between ideals and practicalities, aspirations and realities, the world as we want it, and as we find it But one day a manifesto comes along that reconciles both in every pledge. A rare moment of clarity and hope

Sound the New Zealand Mentioned Klaxon! "...only New Zealanders have suffered a steeper fall in their after-inflation wages [in the OECD]" Oh...

Prediction markets seem pretty toxic, but we could have made a fortune betting against the timing of National Party announcements ... cancel ferries -> ferry runs aground ... announce LNG terminal -> war in Iran ... lecture councils about climate change -> massive storms #nzpol

This is great reporting from @henrycooke.bsky.social - follow the thread for the sudden grinding of gears as Erica Stanford slams the policy into reverse #nzpol

Some days I think the internalization of neoliberalism’s failures as individual shame - plus a veritable flood of antidepressants - is the only thing standing in the way of an actual proper political revolution in the West #nzpol

YES❗Mandatory Lobby Register for Aotearoa #nzpol "... voluntary codes are insufficient, and a statutory framework is required to ensure consistent, mandatory accountability and transparency across the industry." 💯 from @lobbyreformnz on IG and FB ✍️ Petititon: petitions.parliament.nz/22de6272-7c9...

More of this, please #nzpol

Remember: if you’re a Green-leaning Left voter, you’re not the target demographic for Opportunity - but if you’re a disaffected National voter that doesn’t like the swing to the hard right then you absolutely are … hence the positioning #nzpol

Lobbying in AoNZ is so pervasive that even Transparency International NZ is implicated - it’s headed by a former National Party cabinet member, and has been absolutely silent on the utter ethical failures of this government #nzpol

If Treasury was genuinely doing its job - as distinct from just being the government's bean-counters - then there'd be a national economic strategy that shows how we achieve sustainable national prosperity. So we might as well shut them down and outsource the bean-counting to Xero #nzpol

What a relief to know that National is only 200 years behind the times #nzpol

History tells us that fascist leaders are only capable of governing when there is a compliant bureaucracy willing and able to implement their toxic policies. And here in AoNZ, we have an enthusiastically willing and entirely complicit public sector doing exactly that #nzpol

I think it's time to talk explicitly about class warfare in AoNZ and its effect on our political discourse. These thoughts rest on the foundations of John Michael Greer, whose insights make essential but uncomfortable reading A thread 🧵 #nzpol

The de-industrialization of the country by the National Party, in one panel #nzpol

Exactly 100% this - the entrenched bureaucratic reflex that everyone must be polite to authority and calm at all times, irrespective of the stress and trauma being inflicted by those self same bureaucrats #nzpol

So far there’s only been one new UK prime minister this week, but it is only Monday

If rumours are to be believed I'll be living with a seventh different Prime Minister shortly. If it carries on like this I'm going to stop making the effort to learn their names.

The trouble with National’s view of the future is it looks almost exactly like 1968, when farmers ran the country, Māori knew their place, rugby was a religion, and domestic violence wasn’t a crime #nzpol

Ah, there’s nothing quite like the delusion of the National Party faithful. And yes, us great unwashed do get the party’s achievements: the totally fucked state of the AoNZ economy is now visible from space #nzpol

The only reason there’s so much public wanking about fiscal policy in this country is because none of the parties has anything that faintly resembles an economic strategy. They masturbate about the deficit in place of presenting their plan for our national prosperity #nzpol

I think there are some pretty serious questions for the public sector to answer about why they’re still putting the finances of the government ahead of the wellbeing of victims, years after the Royal Commission of Inquiry #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

In any other market this would result in a ComCom prosecution for abuse of market power, but both National and Labour have legislated to make it perfectly legal behavior in the electricity market #nzpol

AoNZ: this is your public service announcement in an election year that you should absolutely be following @musicalchairs.bsky.social if you want to know how the economy actually works, and seeing through the nonsense both major parties preach #nzpol

Back on track #nzpol

I sent a letter to Minister Willis about some banking competition issues, and the auto-reply contained this gem: 'If you are concerned about someone's wellbeing, you can call your local mental health crisis team. A full list of numbers is available here' #nzpol

It started with the orcas, but now the dogs are joining in

Congratulations to @domesticanimal.bsky.social for winning 2026 Cartoonist of the year (used to be the Voyager Award). Bloody brilliant news and well deserved. Look forward for to seeing more wonderful creations this year ❤️❤️❤️

I can’t help thinking that political speech writing is probably an ideal task for AI, given the speeches seem to use a lot of words to say not terribly much - which seems a perfect application of the technology #nzpol

Turning the corner #NZpol #sketch #cartoon

This - particularly the ICAC idea #nzpol

Dr David Haugh from the OECD was superb at the Commerce Commission conference on Thursday - he’ll be well worth a watch #nzpol

Goodness, I never realised that handing out tax cuts to tobacco companies and the ultra-rich was so critical to our national strategic interests #nzpol www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

We lost Douglas Adams 25 years ago today. This has made a lot of people very sad and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

We certainly have the very best government that money can buy #nzpol

And just for a bit of Enhanced Geekery™ ... irrespective of what Bish's bean-counting review comes up with, the business case for CRL absolutely stacks up if we use a sensible approach to the discount rate for the project #nzpol

This is the best possible illustration of the fact that the National Party just doesn’t understand the concept of investment. In their dumb-assed “household budget” view, all money out the door is just spending, and all spending is bad #nzpol

In other news, the New Zealand government heads in entirely the opposite direction and plans for an LNG terminal in the midst of an energy crisis #nzpol

Always do what the Auntie tells you, even if they’re not your Auntie #NewZealandValues

And this is the whole problem with monetarism. Pulling money out of households already struggling with cost of living issues will do nothing to reduce inflation due to the oil crisis, but will emphatically kill the economy and send unemployment soaring #nzpol

The economists are wrong about that. If they think unemployment is only going to stay at this level as oil gets scarce and the RBNZ puts the boot into the economy with interest rate rises, they’re entirely mistaken #nzpol

Well, isn't this excellent news. Banker, rhymes with ... #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

For some edge-case definitions of "working" and "well", I'm sure he's correct #nzpol